(Newser)
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The 1% never had it so rough—well, at least not since the economic crisis was at its worst. Thanks to a terrible year for the stock markets, Wall Street pay is down big-time. The Wall Street Journal reviewed 34 publicly traded financial firms and calculated their total compensation to be $159 billion for 2011, the smallest amount since 2008. Actually, pay was on track to hit a record high for the first three quarters of 2011 at those companies, but a miserable end of the year wiped out much of that, according to the Journal's survey.

At Goldman Sachs, the average employee compensation will likely fall 10.7% to $385,000; for its 400 partners, pay could be cut in half compared to 2010. At Morgan Stanley, bonuses for investment bankers could fall as much as 40%. And with new regulations reining in risk taking, industry experts say the party is over for Wall Street. “It’s likely 2011 will be the worst year for revenue growth for the banks since 1938, and so far 2012 isn’t feeling much better,” one analyst told the New York Times. “The industry simply grew too fast over the past two decades and now it’s downshifting. This process will take time, but the hit to revenue is happening now.” On the other hand, many Wall Street employees are getting more bonuses in the form of company stocks, and with markets down now, those stocks could turn into a major windfall should the markets rebound.

Wow. The lowest since 2008, when they destroyed the economy?? /Can we have a Tag Day?

boxcar

Jan 9, 2012 10:28 AM CST

What? They couldn't get US taxpayers to "pony up" for subsidized bonuses? What's up with collusion between Washington money launderers and their Wall Street cronies? Oh, they're waiting for the other shoe to drop- 2nd half of The Great Recession about to come ashore in 2012 and they have YET to reinstate the 1937 Uptick Rule that'd prevent WS from shorting the HALF of US commercial property ARMs scheduled for reset in 2012 Again, WS Banksters will make out like bandits in next economic crises as bad or worse than Fall'08 Game is RIGGED, and that's why the OWS crowd will be up in arms for this next collapse- Anyone says "Game ON" doesn't have a bloomin' CLUE that there will BE NO recovery because we are in a Global economy where next bubble to burst is SOVERIGN DEBT, including compleat states "Game RIGGED" is a more accurate statement

NewserScooter

Jan 9, 2012 8:52 AM CST

I wonder how much that will cut into the tax revenue base in NYC, and NJ.